i will not follow you to your office. >> thank you for joining us. is an exciting show. bernie sanders is here live and in in person. we'll sit down for an extensive discussion with senator sanders. he's the democratic frontrunner, maybe, in the early state of iowa. he's definitely the democratic frontrunner in the early state of new hampshire. hillary clinton, of course, is still the favorite overall for the democratic nomination but bernie sanders for president campaign is no longer just a exciting liberal dot. bernie sanders is here tonight. before we bring senator sanders in. there is news today following last night's marathon second republican presidential candidate debate. there is news today and tonight

that the republicans might finally be changing the way they are running their side of the presidential election this year. it has to do with moments like this one that i'm about to show you. this is a strange moment at the republican debate last night. they were trying to get a group photograph. a class photograph of all 15 republican candidates for president. there used to be 17 of them. but rick perry now quit and cnn wouldn't let jim gilmore in the door. there were 15 of them. the idea see where the red arrow is. line them up at that edge of the reagan library presidential carpet and have them take a photograph together. you see them file out for their group photograph jeb bush, donald trump, george pa, rick santorum is the last guy out. the photographers get into their succumb in front of this big stack of candidates. the photographers kneel down. you can see there's a guy in front lining them up saying get closer!

there's no wide angle wide enough to take you in. it takes a long time to get them together. it's awkward. everybody is shuffling their feet and not knowing they should make small talk. wondering whether it is done yet. the candidates get released and the photographers start leaving to do other photographer things and the candidates start to peel off from the sides of the line. glad that's over. but then there's -- nope. wait, no. turn around! it's not over. everybody get back in place. everybody line up. let's get the photographers back up. you know, we forgot lindsay. yep. down there jogging in the corner of the screen lindsey graham was not there when they started taking the picture because they apparently forgot him. once they finally found him and reconvened they snuck him on the end. the tallest candidate being next to the shortest candidate.

this is the awkward thing that happens when you have arbitrarily divided your group of candidates. as awkward and embarrassing it was for lindsey graham whom they forgot to wait for as he was coming from the kids' table debate, it was even sadder for bobby jindal who missed the photograph all together. when all the other candidates were lining up for the big group photograph, i mean, yeah, sure it's bad enough lindsey graham was late and half forgotten. bobby jindal was in the spin room alone after the weirdly separate four-person kids table debate. when that broke up nobody knows what happens to those guys. they dispersed. some are around and some are not. i guess we lost one. it was embarrassing. >> apparently according to the republican national committee that is not going to happen again. the republican party, apparently, is finally giving up on the idea of the kids table!

tada! the next debate the third one is set for october 28th. sean spicer said that next debate will not have a kids table or as he called it an under guard. >> the next debate is october 28th in colorado in bolder. it's going to be a cnbc debate. we look forward to that. 11 candidates on the main stage last night. four candidates on the under card debate? >> i doubt there will be an under card. cnbc yet to publish it. we'll be talking to them in the coming days. >> what does that mean an under card? >> what does that mean. cnbc has not published the next debate criteria. we don't know for sure if they're going to keep the kids table format or not. apparently the republican party

after last night's bizarrely organized five hour long ordeal with one group of four and one group of 11. the republican national committee today the morning after that says we're not going to do that again. also, i know not everyone in the world cares about how the debates are organized. but the republican party also admitted today finally that they are the ones who insisted there be a kids table in the first place. watch this. >> we sat down with both fox and cnn early in this process and said because we have such a historic number of folks on stage, we think that we would like to see a larger debate night where we have two segments. >> that was you! the rnc finally today admitting it was they who told fox and cnn they should do this ridiculous kids table format. where some real candidates in one group and some lesser candidates in another group.

that is what has lead to the two crazy nights of republican debates so far. now we know it was the republican party. i mean, through all the criticism of that incredibly awkward obviously biassed intrusion into the nominating process. the republican party insisted over and over again they had nothing to do with. fox and cnn decided to do it this way. sean spicer, that same guy you saw there explaining it was the republican party. he himself wrote this op-ed in the wall street journal insisting it was fox news and cnn who, quote, took it upon themselves to come up with the ridiculous system with the kids table under card debate. the rnc had nothing do with it. now that same guy sean spicer admits, actually, it was the republican party's idea all along. now they have done it twice, they don't want to do it again. nice to see them finally come clean. it will be fascinating to see whether or not the next debate does get set up any differently from these first two.

who knows, maybe the kids table question will be moot by then because maybe lots more republican candidates will have dropped out of the race by then. one of the under appreciated facts about the republican race this year, was highlighted by the debate line up last night, the arbitrary two debate distinction between supposedly real candidates and supposed long shots. one of the things that is mostly being overlooked but about to get increasingly important about the republican race is how low the levels of support are for most of the candidates who were still in the running. i mean, when somebody has as big a lead as donald trump and ben carson have, it just doesn't leave very much left for all the other candidates to fight over. so we're in this weird position where there are very highly regarded candidates with lots of name recognition who never the less now persistently have exceedingly small numbers in the polls. i mean, of these 16 republican candidates for president, 12 of

them have polled at 3% or less in at least one recent national poll. that's incredible. i mean, almost everybody in the field is plagued by incredibly low poll numbers because donald trump and to a lesser extent ben carson are so far out ahead. there are so many people in the race. everybody below the top four has recently polled at 3% or less in the national poll. that's nutty. in a normal year anybody consistently polling at 0 percent, 1%, 2%, or 3% they would be gone already. they would be expected to leave if they hadn't left already. in a normal year in a normal field that would be seen as evidence of complete failure of a campaign. i mean, if you look at the democratic side of the race, the democrats that's kind of a more normal presidential race this year than what is going on in the republican side. the most recent new hampshire poll jim webb in that poll

does -- forgive me, terribly. he polls at 2% in new hampshire. and because the democratic race this year is a race with sort of normal dynamics you think jim webb 2% he's failing. i wonder when he's going to drop out. if jim webb were running on the republican side that 2% would put him equal to or leading eight other candidates in the republican race. everybody in the republican side is at 0% or 1% or 2%. so far of them rick perry has been the only one to quit. after last night that pace may accelerate. you can't stay in a presidential race with numbers that low. even with all those 0% and 1% and 2% candidates up there last night. we forgot bobby jindal. where is bobby. even with the strange and huge field, with so many of them at literally almost nothing poll numbers.

it turns out watching them is compelling. watching them is something that the american public believes to be a compelling prospect. fox got 24 million people to watch the first republican debate. cnn got 23 million people to watch the second republican debate. i have a good authority they went down from a million because jim gilmore and rick perry have large families. part of the reason the republican debates may be getting huge numbers is probably donald trump. his insult-comic presidential came is unpredictable and therefore entertaining. okay. sure. maybe part of the other reason they are getting audiences because they're the only game in town. there is also a democratic race for the presidency. but the first democratic debate is still a month away from now. a combined audience of nearly 50 million people. the democrats aren't debating for another month.

with no democratic race to spectate, even the leading democrat candidates were left to watch last night. hillary clinton was organizing watch parties for the other peat's debate. in the bernie sanders campaign they decided they would have their candidate win the republican debate. of the facebook posts the single most popular one by anyone was the one written by bernie sanders. in which he said the republican debate was, quote, really pretty sad. that was the single biggest facebook post about last night's republican debate. the one written by bernie sanders. and under the #debate with bernie sanders. he live tweeted the debate as he watched. the results tweets will someday be used as a photograph illustration alongside the word "sarcasm."

here is the first one. quote, "trump what a kind and generous person." here is one from the following hour. war, war, war! when do we get to the other major priority tax break for millionaires. you could hear sanders getting a little punchy through the tweets. yep, bush was a great president. yes! no doubt. great president. all obama's fault. a few minutes later he posted this. yes, chris christie, george w. bush who gave us the iraq war and the wall street crash. he was one of the great presidents. you're right. and there's this one. just what we need more neo con policies to continue the legacy. senator sanders does not think that's just what we need. by the time cnn got around to asking how reagan esque they sanders wrote "let's vote for

reagan!" before the end of the debate he posted thank you all. i've had it. i'm going home. talk to you soon. that was retweeted more than 3,000 times. because the democratic party is going minimalist and late in the debate schedule. we don't get to yet watch the democrat debates. they resort to throwing spitballs like last night. the democratic race is on increasingly and in a way getting more fun to watch over time. hillary clinton is seen as the party's most likely nominee. she hasn't changed the way she's campaigning. she's making herself more available to all different kinds of media.

she did the long sit down intense one on one interview with andrea mitchell. she danced poorly but gamely before a huge live audience on the set of the ellen degeneres show. last night she was on the jimmy fallon show where she was fake interviewed by jimmy fallon playing fake donald trump. in that appearance, she drank wine. she at one point invited jimmy fallon to verify her hair was real hair just like donald trump's hair. secretary clinton showing her lighter side at the same time one of the super pacs supporting her a group called correct the record went negative for the first time not against some republican but against bernie sanders. sending out an e-mail linking bernie sanders to left wing south american dictators. now as a measure of how much more interesting the democratic race is than you thought it was going to be the bernie sanders

campaign responded to that by fundraising off that hillary clinton super pac attack against bernie. it turns out they raised more than $1.2 million off of it. act blue is the website that processes campaign donations for democratic candidates. they tell msnbc that bernie sanders raising money through them in response to the attack from hillary clinton, they say it broke all their records, quote, we have never seen an immediate donor response like what the sanders campaign received on tuesday. at one point it drove 180 contributions through our platform per minute. antidotal and fund raising reporting like that. one other sign it is really a race and it's really on is just the raw naked polling. hillary clinton still leads nationally, but for the first time senator sanders has polled ahead of her narrowly in iowa.

and that new democratic poll that i mentioned out of new hampshire today that put jim webb at 2%. that poll puts senator sanders leading hillary clinton in new hampshire by four points. the poll is the fifth straight poll in new hampshire in which hillary clinton comes in second place and bernie sanders comes in first. i want to know what he thinks of those republicans and their debate and what it means for the country that 23 million people watched them for all the hours last night. i want to know how it changed his campaign and changed his thinking to be taking on these meetings with black lives matter protesters and other protesters have been confronting him over race issues. i want to know if he has the infrastructure to be on the ballot in all 50 states and not just do so well in the early states. with veterans increasingly infuriated about the presidential process and the

donald trump. i want to know what senator sanders thinks about veteran issues. i have so many things i want to ask him. he's here next.

after a marathon night of watching the republican debate last night mother jones magazine found bernie sanders the video game somewhere online in the internet archives. you steer senator sanders in an echo friendly airplane helping him avoid the fat cats and mud slingers. i think he can shoot at the bad things with super powered fact sheets, maybe? no matter how well or badly you do, bernie sanders at the end of the game telling you this -- >> the good news is and there is some good news out there that is an unbelievable number. >> the bernie sanders video game

still works. and it got refound today by mother jones. playing the game was a good part of preparing for my show today. that was left over from his senate run in 2006. it still exists. tonight we have senator sanders here for the interview. doug, we have the results, but first, we have a very special guest. come on out, flo! [house band playing]

you have anything to say to flo? nah, i'll just let the results do the talking. [crowd booing] well, he can do that. we show our progressive direct rate and the rates of our competitors even if progressive isn't the lowest. it looks like progressive is not the lowest! ohhhh! when we return, we'll find out whether doug is the father. wait, what? joining us now for the interview is vermont senator and democratic candidate for president of the united states bernie sanders. it's great to have you with us tonight. >> great to be here, rachel. >> we talked on the show before you got in the race and we talked right after you jumped in the race. how do you feel now compared to

them? >> in a slight state of shock. i watched television and i hear about a guy bernie sanders and i say that's an interesting guy. i'd love to meet him. that's kind of what i feel. i thought that we had a message that would resonate with the american people. but the truth is it's resonating a lot faster than i thought it would. and one of the problems we're having now is putting together the political infrastructure, the kind of channelling all that support to constructive and effective political action. that's where we are now. >> do you feel -- and this is a little bit personal. i don't mean it in a prying way. this process and how much attention you've gotten and how much success you got is it energizing or tiring and overwhelming? >> it is both. it's an unbelievable moment to go to portland, oregon. i look at 28,000 people and say why are they here? i'm speaking.

it's mind blowing. if you go through a month -- 30 days and no days off and it gets you a little bit. i got a day job as united states senator for vermont, but all in all, the kind of support that we're getting, the kind of energy and the kind of young people that are coming out, you know, that energizes me a lot. >> you've been preparing for this your whole life in some ways. let me ask you about what you raised there scaling up. your campaign put out a mass hiring call for campaign coordinators to focus on massachusetts, georgia, colorado, oklahoma, texas, virginia, alabama, and arkansas. all these supertuesday states. should we take that to mean you think you've been out organized a little bit in that state -- in those states or you never thought you would have to do that. >> what you can take from that is that we have a put a lot of resources and energy into new hampshire and iowa and south carolina.

now we're gearing up for the week after. we think we can do very, very well on super tuesday. i think we'll do well in colorado and massachusetts. and i think we're going to do better than people think in states like south carolina where we're beginning to put a lot of resources in. >> did you learn anything from your admittedly somewhat unexpected success in new hampshire and iowa ha taught you how you want to organize in new states? >> yes. our emphasis what we're doing now in iowa, i think we have 50 or 60 people on the ground. we have people already knocking on doors. that's what we're doing in new hampshire. we going to be on television and the radio with ads. most of our emphasis is going to be at a grassroots level door to door talking to people or going to meetings. >> getting supporters to meet each other in addition -- >> absolutely. one of the exciting aspects of what is happening right now i think we have close to 200,000

volunteers. >> wow. >> this stuff is sprouting up all over the country. i read about it in the papers. we didn't organize it. a lot of this is respondentous. it's moving to me. >> can you say with confidence that you'll be on the ballot in all 50 states? getting on the ballot is not an easy thick. >> we got a guy that is focus in life is just that. unless i'm very mistaken yes. we're in the race to win. you don't win unless you're on the ballot in 50 states. >> you live tweeted last night's debate. i read a bunch of those tweets. a little sarcasm there. you posted about it on facebook. it was the single most viewed facebook post. that debate went on for more than three hours. had 23 million people watching. combine it with the first 24 million people watching the first debate. are you concerned republican candidates are getting that much air time to articulate their ideas with know equivalence for

the democratic candidates? >> i didn't think it was a good idea to limit the debates to six. we live in a country where in the last election 63% of the american people didn't vote. my guess is a majority of the people don't know which party controls the senate or the house. public consciousness is not terribly high and debates a means for us to get out and talk about real issues and show the difference between candidates. talk about the need for people to be involved in the political process. because if they're not involved. if ordinary people are not involved the billionaire class. >> you inspired 200,000 volunteers. you moved people. if that does not translate this year into you winning the nomination, and i hear you when you're saying you're in it to win it. i believe you. will you try to inspire those

people to do something else? >> yes. i don't know if it's me as a leader but what i believe from the bottom of my heart. i say it every time i speak to people. bernie sanders cannot do it alone. yes, i'm running to win. i want to win and i think i can be a great president. but no president not bernie sanders or anybody else can take on wall street, corporate america, the corporate media, the koch brothers, all the big money interests unless there's a mobilized force of millions and millions of people who stand together and say, you know, hey government has got to work for all of us not just the wealthiest people in this country. that's what i believe. we'll be back with more in a moment. so you don't have to stop. tylenol® 8hr arthritis pain has two layers of pain relief. the first is fast. the second lasts all day. we give you your day back. what you do with it is up to you. tylenol®.

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vaccines are very important. certain ones, the ones that will prevent death or crippling. there are others a multitude of vaccines that probably don't fit in that category and there should be some discretion in those indications. >> you take the little beautiful baby and you pump, i mean, it looks just like it's meant for a horse not for a child. we've had so many instances. people that work for me just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old a beautiful child went to have the vaccine and came back and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick now is autistic. i only say it's not -- i'm in favor of vaccines.

do them over a longer period of time. same amount. >> it is true that we are probably giving way too many in too short a period of time. and a lot of pediatricians now recognize that. i think are cutting down on the number and the proximity in which those are done. >> i'm all for vaccines but i'm also for freedom. i'm a little concerned about how they're bunched up. >> i don't know who won last night debate but the american academy of pediatrics think they lost or america's infants lost because of the anti-vaccine conspiracy theories put by donald trump and supported by the medical doctors up there senator rand paul and dr. ben carson. you can see them freaking out as the candidates went down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole on vaccines. pediatrics started tweeting out no. they put out a formal statement

about why vaccines are important and they don't cause autism. they distributed a video of a pediatrician explaining why it's right to take them on the right schedule instead of spacing them out like dr. trump said and the other doctors there last night. let's turn to bernie sanders. i want to get your reaction to that last night. that was one of the, i mean, it made me feel like it was a public health hazard >> well, actually, over the years people of vermont have met with me on this issue. i think the evidence is overwhelming that vaccines do not cause autism. it really is a little bit weird for trump, who as i presume, no medical background to be raising an issue. you're going find thousands of people who hesitate to give

their kids the shots and bad things may happen. >> on terms of the relationship between democrats and republicans at this point in this national discussion that we're having. early on in the process you and i talked about your proposal. i think it was back in june that democrats and republicans should start debating each other now. even before the republican primary process is done. are you still into that idea? >> absolutely. the more debates the merrier. i'll tell you what i think. i think republicans get away with murder. because they are never challenged. last night -- i have to tell you i did quit after two and a half hours. the energy was just sucked out of my body. i was exhausted watching this stuff. in terms of the major issues facing america, you hear one word from anybody who said, well, you know, climate change is a real threat to the planet we need bold action? no. did you hear one person say

well, the real value of the minimum wage has declined significantly over the years. we need to raise the minimum wage? no. did you hear one person say one word about 30 million americans not having any health insurance and the united states being the only major country in the world who doesn't provide health care to all people or families or medical leave? one word in terms of what the american people want asking the rich and large corporations to stop paying their fair share of taxes? not one word. in terms of immigration, which you did hear a lot about, the majority of people believe there should be a process. a path toward citizenship for undocumented people. not one of those guys had anything to say in support of that concept. >> you went to liberty university this week. you were respectful to your audience. with donald trump so dominant in

the republican field, i wonder if you are starting to think about a plan for trying to appeal to people who think of themselves not as liberals as moderate conservatives that usually think of themselves as republicans but they cannot stomach somebody like mr. trump as their nominee. do you have a cross over appeal? >> absolutely. and, rachel, to the best of my knowledge in the state of vermont, we got about 25% of the republican vote. why is that? because people say, okay, i disagree with bernie on women's rights. i disagree with bernie on gay rights. okay. but you know what? i believe he is fighting for my kids and my parents and for the rights of the middle class. and you see a lot of those folks saying i disagree with them but i'm going to vote for them. now you're absolutely right. the folks at liberty university were extremely respectful. here is my point you are a religious group of people. you are concerned about morality. i disagree with you on abortion

rights. i disagree with you on gay rights. end of discussion. how do we come together? isn't it a moral issue that in america today we are seeing a proliferation of millionaires and billionaires at the same time as we have the highest rate of child poverty of any major country on earth. isn't that a moral issue? >> even if you're a conservative. >> absolutely. it is. i think many are saying yeah. we've gotten some wonderful responses from some of the e van -- evangelicals. they understand it and see it as god's earth and should be respected. you have republicans out there not one believing we have to move aggressive will to save the planet. yes, i think we can reach out in a respectful way understanding there are very important issues we disagree on. let's go forward together where

we can find common ground. >> we have more with bernie sanders after this.

we have a problem in this country it's called muslims. we know our current president is one. you know he's not even an american. >> we need this question. >> but anyway, we have training camps growing where they want to kill us. that's my question. when can we get rid of them. >> we're looking at a lot of things and a lot of people are saying that and that bad things are happening out there. we are looking at that and other things. go ahead, madam. welcome to new hampshire. last night was a disgrace. cnn did not touch on any of the issues that are going on with veterans health care. >> it's true. it's true. i asked them about that. there wasn't one question relating to the veterans. that's true. >> did anyone even ask them why -- i know that's a clinton network. is it they don't like veterans

or? >> you know, there was not one question relating to that and not too much on the military, by the way, but nothing relating to the veterans. those days, believe me, are over. >> that was earlier this evening donald trump in new hampshire asked about president obama being a muslim and the need to go get the muslims because we have a muslim problem in this country. mr. trump said we'll be looking into that. profiles encouraged there. but then the follow up question about veterans. and mr. trump also had no answer for that. that really is a question worth getting an answer to. we're back with senator bernie sanders who is our guest tonight for the interview. senator, i want to ask you about veteran's issues. in part, because even though support for veterans is usually a pretty nonpartisan thing, there are some particularly radical takes on veteran's issues among leading republican candidates this year. their frontrunner this week did an event on a battle ship with a group he said represented

hundreds of thousands of veterans. it's a group that no real veterans organizations have heard of. they apparently have no membership. they have $30 in the bank and there's one person in the group. mr. trump said that event on the battle ship means he has veterans support. mr. trump has no platform whatsoever on veterans issues. that comes as several other candidates on the republican side including the guy running second ben carson say they want to abolish the va. they want to privatize the va. you just finished up a term as chairman of veterans affairs in the senate. what is your response to the republican positioning on this issue? >> it's an outrage. i was chairman of the senate veteran's committee for two years. we passed a bipartisan bill for $17 million to improve va health care. i introduced the most

comprehensive and boldest of veteran's legislation in history that got the support of the vfw and the dav and the major veteran organizations. we only got two republican votes in the senate to pasta. here is the bottom line. as a nation, i think we understand now what we didn't always understands. we don't blame the men and women who put their lives on the line for the wars they're fighting in. we didn't always know that back in vietnam. i voted against the war in iraq. i have also worked day and night to make sure that the men and women from all of our wars get the benefits and health care they are entitled. in some ways we're making progress. in some ways we're not. absolutely the answer is not the privatize the va. the answer is to strengthen it. >> i remember talking to you about the scandal of wait times and va facilities lying about

wait times. you were supportive of general shin sec key calling for his head. has robert mcdonald doing any better trying to fix the va since then? >> the answer is i think donald is trying his best to deal with an enormous bureaucracy that is out there. one of the other things, rachel, which i learned as chairman is it is very easy. the va has 152 million centers and some 800 community based outreach clinics. every day there's a problem. every day there's a problem in any and every medical facility in america. and if all you talk about are the negative things that people get a certain view of the va. when i was chairman i had all the major veterans organizations in front of me. merge -- american legion all of

it. they said it's good to excellent care. that's how most veterans feel. now what we try to do and have done is put $5 billion into the va to increase the number of doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel they need so we can make sure never again will veterans be put on long waiting lines. >> because of the long waiting lines and the things the va hasn't done right, that's a big political opening for the right to try to kill the va. is that a concerted effort? >> of course it is. it's the same attack -- look, same thing with the postal service. there's a desire to -- i've been involved in this issue to privatize the postal service. the same thing with social security. to privatize our cut social security and medicare. look at what the koch brothers and these guys believe. they don't believe in government. that is their underlying philosophy. yes, they don't believe in

public education. so there is a concerted attack against every major public constitution from the va to social security on down. >> vermont senator democratic candidate for president of the united states bernie sanders. you did not know you would be at this point in your campaign when you launched it. i know, because i can tell. i didn't know. it is a remarkable thing as a liberal to see the success you're having and what your message is having. good luck to you in the long-term.

two things to come tonight. the first is -- another big republican presidential debate thing tomorrow. it's a debate-like thing. it's not technically a debate, but yeah, in case you didn't get enough. and the details are kind of stunning. we have more ahead. what are your goals for this season?

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>> bernie sanders on the show this race right now. he said it's a moving experience, he didn't expect this, he was shocked. >> i thought it was interesting to hear him say that, too. a lot of people are shocked. it's hard to believe it was controversial to say that hey, maybe bernie sanders has a better shot against hillary than martin o'malley. and look where we are right now. now the fact that he's leading in some of the these early states. you play it out a little be it. let's say he's able to sustain the strength he has in iowa and new hampshire. you look at two things. first of all, there's always this battle between the accomplishment candidate and the insurgent. it's never happened when the ir sur gent candidate has gone in and won the first two states, iowa and new hampshire. you go back to 1984. walter mondale wins iowa, gary hart wins new hampshire.

now we have our race. in 2000, al gore beats bill bradley in those first two states. that ends the race on the spot. it's never happened that the insurgent wins both of those. i'm torn looking at this between two possible scenarios here. one is a world in which bernie sanders actually pulls that off. right now you look at it and say it's plausible he could pull that off. is that a world where there's such panic and such chaos that things crumble for hillary clinton down the line. the flip side is when you look down the line, the states that hillary clinton's campaign is pointing to right now, the southern states, the super tuesday states, the sec pree mare states, these are states where the establishment candidate has done very well. black voters loom so large in the south. that's her firewall. so those two things are in conflict with each other. >> in terms of the candidates -- those two candidates facing off against each other, how much do they need to trim their sales or think about their strategy in

light of a possible entry from joe biden? i personally -- my personal opinion, i don't believe that vice president biden is going to get in. i don't feel like he's doing to. i have nothing to base that on because i don't think he knows? if he's going to get in. >> biden's support is coming a little bit from the hillary side, a little bit from the sanders side. if you take the national polls right now, hillary, biden, sanders. if you add up the sanders and biden numbers, that's enough to give hillary a gain. they're basically tied with her if you add those together. if you're joe biden, you're saying my strategy has got to be, i get what i have right now and i've got to fold in the bernie sanders people. that's a very tough thing to do when you look at how committed so many of the sanders voters, specifically to bernie sanders. you would need a scenario if

you're joe biden where basically you take out bernie sanders in the first two states, iowa and new hampshire. bernie sanders is not considered a factor coming out of there, then you joe biden get the one-on-one with hillary. maybe you inherit sanders supporters. then the big wild card for biden would be how he can reverse the southern math that usually favored the establishment. would in that scenario, president obama, his boss, his close personal friend, would president obama say biden come off of a win and say i'll back you in south carolina. that could change the math. >> listening to bernie sanders to flight, thinking about any other candidate trying to inherit his supporters is very hard to imagine that being a transitive i think. steve, thank you. really appreciate it. we'll be right back.

so was last night too short? was five straight hours of republicans talking not enough for you? if that's how you feel then i've got good news for you, you weirdo. because the republican candidates are going to square off again tomorrow night in an event that has an even longer format. i am not kidding. it's a heritage action for america forum. tomorrow in south carolina. it is scheduled to last six hours. sadly, even though it is in south carolina, heritage action has decided home state south carolina senator lindsey graham is not polling well enough to qualify so they will not let him in. but most of the rest of the field will be there, including donald trump who weirdly, even though everybody else has normal head shots in their promo material, in this event he has been cast as some sort of raptor.

that's a terrible picture. six hours of republicans talking is on tap tomorrow in south carolina just in case that's what you needed. "first look" is up next. it's friday, september 18th. right now on "first look," after a record-setting gop debate the candidates, they are trying to capitalize on any momentum they may have gained with voters. pope francis sends a serious message to cuba ahead of his historic u.s. visit. a terrifying ordeal for elementary school children as their bus skids off a road and into a pond. plus a 104-mile-per-hour line drive strikes a major league pitcher. a president caught on the stadium kiss cam. and a bear having one heck of a time on a hammock. "first look" starts right now. that bear video is just the greatest. all right happy friday to you, everybody. good morning. thanks for joining us today. so fresh off their spirited debate most of the gop presidential